The Easy Trap - Chasing the Metric

I am a very goal-oriented, results-driven person.  I like to win.  Hence, I can sometimes be easy prey for the "chasing the metrics" trap...

Yesterday, I caught up with this post on Harry Joiner's Marketing Headhunter blog regarding the different lists that rank blogs - Todd Andrlik's Power 150 and Mack Collier's Viral Garden Top 25 Marketing Blogs.  There are some awesome blogs on these list.  Many of which are in my "People to See" list.  Immediately, my results-driven mind went to "what do I have to do to get on one of those lists?"  I started investigating how each of the list get scored.  What do I need to do to improve my Google PageRank so I can compete with Sam Decker?  What do I need to do to compete with the John Moore at Brand Autopsy?

It took a while (actually a long-time thinking about it, some sleep, then some coffee) before I realized what I was doing.  I fell into the same trap that so many companies and marketing organizations fall into.  I started chasing the metric and mentally moved away from why I started in the first place.  In my mental quest to improve my numbers, I discounted the foundational principals I used to establish this blog. 

I also realized that (for me) blogging is not about competing.  It is about building an interconnected stream of ideas and expertise that can improve the whole.  One blog does not necessarily "win" over another blog...but these lists can create that competition, especially when an industry publication like Advertising Age gets involved.  Now that I have gone through my mental calisthenics, I am happy that Seth reaches 5 gazillion people a day.  Maybe one day Ideas-to-Action will have relevance to that many people.  Until then, I am happy helping the people I touch everyday.

Have you fallen into this trap at work or in your personal life?  How have you defined winning?  What did you do to get back on track when you went off course?

Comments

[Victor Howard]

Harry - you crack me up. I like your attention to detail. The new "Moore's Law" went right past me. But there may be some interesting element of truth there. Once "score is kept", everyone wants a piece of the action. This is a little take away I had from Seth Godin's August 27 post called "The Scarcity Shortage". Instead of finding ways to "make the pie bigger", people/organizations work really hard to "get their piece of the pie" -- which keeps getting smaller and smaller...

Victor

[Harry Joiner]

"what gets measured, gets manufactured."

That's classic. A new Moore's Law.

Harry

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Victor ... "what gets measured, gets manufactured." As you note, that business saying applies to blogging.

I've never chased rankings with my Brand Autopsy blog. Instead, I prefer to share stuff I find worthwhile and interesting.

I learned long before blogging became a part of my life that the more I share, the more I learn -- and blogging fits into that thinking for me. The result of blogging for me is new learning.

Learning new stuff. That's the measurement which motivates my appetite for blogging.